1: Her Escape

Finally, after decades of being stuck in that shit-hole, I have finally escaped.

For the first time in a long time, I inhaled the fresh air of the outside world. Even with my hands soaked in blood and guts, I have never felt more free than in this moment. Only a single thought came to me as I stared off into a horizon of woods and fire.

I will never go back to that place ever again.

My new life starts here; it's time to say goodbye to this old place.

I turned around to the bloody sight I had walked through, the strings in my heart pulling tightly in my chest as I saw the sight. It was never my intention to harm anyone when I escaped, but these people did not even hesitate to use their weapons and magic against me.

I may not know much, but the way they charged head-first was all I needed to know to understand that there was no going back for them. It was either me or them, and I have no intentions of giving up the only thing that I have been working so hard to achieve until now.

With one final bow, I turned my back from the bloody sight and ran towards the woods as fast as I could.

I ran and I ran, and for a moment, that was all that I could remember doing. This was my freedom, and I wasn't about to waste any more of it in that place that imprisoned me.

Oh, it felt great to run. I have missed the feeling of the air embracing me, the faintly familiar scents of the trees and grass as I ran past them.

In my journey of escape, I had run past so many things that I had never seen before. All the critters and animals ran away from me the moment they saw me, but the terrain was unchanging. I have seen waterfalls and beautiful ponds, mountain ranges and volcanoes littered with all kinds of fauna. The kinds of forests would change, and so would their weather.

I never felt tired in my journey. My body was so in tune with nature that my hunger was satiated by the new sights every day. My thirst was gone every time it would rain.

It was so freeing.

Until it wasn't.

About a month since my escape, I started to regularly black out. There were moments in my days where the sun would sink in the horizon, and the next thing I knew, it was already rising at the other end of the sky.

I tried to escape it. I would go to the top of the mountains, but nothing changed. I would swim until I reached the bottom of the rivers and ponds, but nothing changed. I would dive under lava, but nothing would change.

Even when I fought against the urge, I would black out. Any weapons or traps that I tried to set up were useless in the face of it. Animals wouldn't help because they wouldn't come close to me.

I would still black out. I wouldn't remember a thing.

Suddenly, my freedom felt like suffering. Just like how I was when I was in that tower, on those tables. This phenomenon kept me from enjoying my days outside. I was trapped like I was back then.

What was happening to me?

I stopped running and started to wander. A voice at the back of my head, harsh and sharp, reminded me how useless all that violence was only to live like this. Was this even living? I don't know. Was what I was doing beforehand living? What even does it mean to live?

I don't know. I don't know anything.

The people in the tower said I was an abomination. Do abominations get to live? I don't know. I don't know anything.

I started to fear the time when the sun would set. The fear turned into frustration, turned into full-blown rage. I would destroy fields, destroy the mountains and volcanoes, evaporate the ponds and rivers, kill each and every tree in sight.

I would do all these things and cower whenever the sun would start to set. I would cry and scream at the offending thing as it lowered more and more on the horizon until I would wake up with nothing but the same sun rising at the other side of the sky.

The rage fizzled out not too long after. I never thought I would experience exhaustion, but I think I am currently experiencing it.

My limbs felt heavy, and I have never felt so much static enter my mind. The voice would continue to pester me, growing louder and louder as my fear continued to grow.

I don't know what was worse. This or the tower.

No. I shouldn't think like that. I escaped for a reason.

But is this better? No. I feel worse. This is a different kind of suffering. How can I make it stop? I made the torture stop by escaping, but how can I escape this?

How can I stop blacking out?

I blacked out again.

But there was something different this time. I was in a different place.

The structures looked the same as the tower, and as soon as I realized this, all I wanted to do was run away. There was one difference that stopped me, however.

The smell. This place smelled different.

Where am I?

I look around to notice a large sign plastered on top of the gate that I assume is the entrance, with a language that I did not know written on it boldly.

There were people, lots of people. A long line was formed in the gate consisting of various races alike. They were busy and frustrated, some looked like they have been here for hours.

Hours? I scrambled up the trees to look at the sun and sure enough, it was on its highest point. That large ball of gas was mocking at this point. It wouldn't let me experience the night and now it's stopping me from experiencing the first early signs of morning.

This was starting to get annoying. I need to find out why this is happening and since I'm here, I might as well ask around.